Sunday, June 12, 2016

I probably should have saved this salmorejo recipe for another month or so, when the humidity sets in and even I, who eats soup all year long, begin to crave cold soups instead of hot. But salmorejo has been on my mind since "tall shot glasses" of this cold Spanish tomato-bread soup was mentioned in Mystic Summer by Hannah McKinnon. Although I ultimately (and very happily) made crab cakes for my book review food pairing, I also wanted salmorejo and I happened to have this recipe for Smoky Salmorejo pinned from Food & Wine. Once I saw a basket of ripe and plump red Roma tomatoes in the locally grown section of my local grocery store, I knew it had to be this weekend's soup.

Salmorejo is sometimes referred to as "blended gazpacho" but it deserves its own fame because it is so much more. Thick, creamy and not quite as sharp or aggressive as gazpacho can be, it makes for a wonderful starter or a light lunch. By nature it is vegan and if you use gluten-free bread, it can easily be a GF choice too. This recipe was topped off with sweet green grapes and smoked almonds, but if you aren't eating vegan, salmorejo is lovely topped with chopped hard-boiled egg, little strips of serrano ham or prosciutto, or even a large shrimp or prawn or two. (Here's an earlier version of this soup from 2009 that I posted showing some alternative toppings.)

I made a couple of small changes to the recipe and process--noted in red below.

Using a box grater, coarsely grate the cut sides of the
tomato halves over a medium bowl until all that remains are the tomato
skins; discard the skins. Add the bread cubes and toss with the
tomatoes. Transfer the tomato mixture to a food processor and let stand
for 15 minutes until the bread is soft. Pulse the tomato mixture with the grated garlic and
vinegar until smooth. With the machine on, gradually add in the 1/4 cup
of smoked olive oil.
Strain the salmorejo through a fine sieve into a
large bowl and season with salt. Cover and refrigerate until very cold,
at least 1 hour or overnight. (Note: I used my Vita-mix instead of a food processor and felt like the soup did not need sieving.)Serve the soup in bowls and garnish with the grapes, almonds and a drizzle of smoked olive oil. (Note: I mixed about 1/4 tsp liquid smoke with 1 Tbsp olive oil and used that for my drizzle.)

Notes/Results: Creamy and full of smoky tomato flavor, this is a great little soup. You can't beat the fact that there is no cooking involved and that it goes together so quickly and easily. The most time consuming part is grating the tomatoes, the rest is just adding a few ingredients--especially if you use a high-power blender, you won't need to do the final straining step. Because I didn't have smoked olive oil, I used a little liquid smoke, which worked great, or you could also use smoked paprika. I would definitely make it again.

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone
interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of
some (or all) of the entries the following week.

(If you
are not familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.)

Debra of Eliot's Eats shared these decadent and unique Grilled Cheese with Bread and Butter Pickles and says, "I’m not really presenting a recipe here, but let me tell you how good
these sandwiches are. I used some good sourdough bread, rubbed the
outside slices with olive oil, slapped on a slab of Velveeta (yes
Velveeta), and sprinkled on a good quantity of bread and butter pickles. I totally recognize that Velveeta is a artery-clogging man-made
cheese-like product and definitely not a superfood, but let me tell you
that ooey-gooey warm cheese will make you nostalgic for comfort food of
your youth."

Judee of Gluten Free A-Z Blog made one of my favorites, Asparagus Soup and says, "No matter what the season, I enjoy a hot bowl of soup especially recipes
like this asparagus soup that are fast, easy, seasonal and tasty. This
delicious rich green soup can be whipped up in just 20 minutes from
start to finish. If you like Asparagus, you'll love this flavorful soup!"

Vicki of I'd Rather Be At The Beach made brothy Crock Pot Chicken Thighs with Vegetables and said, "This was SO good! The seasoning on the thighs stuck really well and I
thought it was perfect. If you don’t like your food really spicy you
might want to cut back a little on the seasonings. The chicken was mostly falling apart and it was all very tender. You
could eat the chicken and vegetables without the broth, but I added
quite a bit and it was more like a soup or stew."

Thanks to everyone for linking up last week!If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays I would love to have you! Here's how...To join in this week's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you.

Please practice love, grace, and kindness this week and always! "Have a happy, healthy week!" is my usual Sunday sendoff, but this week I would be remiss not to mention that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Orlando and especially those killed or injured in the mass shooting this weekend and their families and friends. I plan to put all of the love and goodness that I can out into the world and I hope you will join me. We need to do everything we can to not let hate and evil win.

I am still saving for that VitaMix but I could make this with my food processor for sure. Love the look of this soup you made, I like the comparison of texture from gazpacho. It's certainly not enough here to want a cooler soup or anything cool!

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Home of Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

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Originally from the beautiful but rainy Pacific Northwest, I have been living in beautiful and (mostly) sunny Hawaii for the past 15 years. Foodie and Certified Health Coach--I love all things related to food and cooking. I especially like making healthy food that tastes great.

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A Delicious Eric Ripert Dish (weekly) for IHCC

Lots of Book Tours (Reviews + Recipes Inspired by the Book) Because I'm Worth It: Wed. May 23rd, Matchmaking for Beginners: Thurs. May 31st, The Almost Sisters: Wed. June 6th, The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses): Wed. June 13th, The Lost Vintage: Thurs. June 21st, Dead Girls: Wed. June 27th, The Garden of Blue Roses: Tues. July 3rd, When We Found Home: Fri. July 20th, The Last Thing I Told You: Wed. July 25th, America for Beginners: Wed. August 1st, The Daisy Children: Fri. August 10th, Between the Lies: Mon. Aug. 13th, Between the Lies: Wed. August 15th, Pieces of Her: Wed. August 22nd, After Nightfall: Tues. August 28th